Volkswagen

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Volkswagen AG (German:), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany and indirectly majority owned by the Austrian-German Porsche family. It designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial vehicles, motorcycles, engines, and turbomachinery and offers related services including financing, leasing and fleet management. In 2016, it was the world's largest automaker by sales, overtaking Toyota and keeping this title in 2017, 2018 and 2019, selling 10.9 million vehicles. It has maintained the largest market share in Europe for over two decades. It ranked seventh in the 2018 Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies. The Volkswagen Group sells passenger cars under the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda and Volkswagen marques; light commercial vehicles under the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand; motorcycles under the Ducati brand; and heavy commercial vehicles via the marques of listed subsidiary TRATON: MAN, Scania, and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus. It is divided into two primary divisions—the Automotive Division and the Financial Services Division—and as of 2008 had approximately 342 subsidiary companies. Volkswagen also has two major joint-ventures in China (FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen). The company has operations in approximately 150 countries and operates 100 production facilities across 27 countries. Volkswagen was founded in 1937, to manufacture the car which would become known as the Beetle.

Volkswagen has been a target of short sellers for a while. The current short interest of 0.50% is roughly at the average of the last 12 months (0.49%).

History